What’s new: Chinese vaccine producer CanSino Biologics Inc.’s Covid-19 vaccine won approval in Mexico for emergency use for people 18 years of age or older, the company said Wednesday.
CanSino signed an agreement to supply 35 million doses of its vaccines to Mexico from the end of 2020 to 2021. CanSino said it would build capacity to produce 100 million to 200 million doses this year, without giving details on progress.
CanSino’s single-dose shot, co-developed by the Chinese military and the Tianjin-based biotech company, uses adenovirus vector to deliver a coronavirus antigen. The vaccine has yet to be submitted for approval in China.
The background: CanSino said earlier this week that its experimental coronavirus shot has an efficacy rate of 65.7% for preventing symptomatic cases based on an analysis from late-stage trials.
CanSino launched the final stage of clinical trials for the vaccine in Pakistan, Mexico, Russia, Chile and Argentina, covering more than 40,000 people.
The protection reading achieved from a single dose of CanSino’s vaccine falls between those of other candidates. The shot developed by state-owned China National Biotec Group Co. Ltd., a unit of Sinopharm, was shown to be 78% effective, while one from Sinovac Biotech Ltd. had a 50.38% rate in a trial involving high-risk medical workers. The shots from Pfizer Inc. and Moderna Inc. have shown protection rates of about 95%, and trials for AstraZeneca Plc’s vaccine resulted in an average of 70% from two different dosing regimes.
Contact reporter Han Wei (weihan@caixin.com) and editor Bob Simison (bobsimison@caixin.com).
